Jinny Sims

[Georgian Bay Channel to Lock 45--Port Severn, October 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, to make it clear, I will be supporting the motion that refers to the Trent-Severn Waterway at Port Severn.

One of the key things for many parts of Canada is that our waterways play a critical role, not only for tourism but also for transportation of goods, leisure, and people living on many of our waterways. Whenever we go into a region to look at the maintenance required--desilting, for example, in this case--it behooves the government to consult with environmentalists, the stakeholders, the business community, as well as the residents in those areas.

One of the key things that the government has an allergy to, as I have said many times, is meaningful consultation and then having transparency in how it proceeds. We are hearing from this community and those impacted by this waterway of the critical need for maintenance and the need for government to invest in infrastructure.

I could talk for days about the government's abandonment of meaningful investment in infrastructure. In my riding of Newton—North Delta, we are in dire need of federal funds to invest in a public transit system because of the gridlock that we experience. Our bridges need upgrading. We have a tunnel that goes under the Fraser River that is in need of major work. Therefore, when I am looking at the need to invest in infrastructure, I find the government is lacking.

Going back to the desilting and deepening of the Trent—Severn Waterway that we are talking about here, I am also reminded of the dire need to do that in my riding. The Fraser River is an amazing river. I do not know if anyone has travelled down it as a tourist or has walked along it, but it is also what I call a “working river”. It carries goods out to the port. It is a river in need of major desilting. I know that the mayors from Delta and Surrey have spoken to the government on the issue of the need to look after the infrastructure there, and to also take a look at our ports.

It is not just wood being transported down the Fraser River. There is also coal and other goods that are being brought up the valley. I have talked to the authorities who tell me that a major investment is required on an ongoing basis to look after the port to make sure that transportation of goods can carry on in a productive way.

At the same time, the Fraser River, as we all know, is a great attraction for fishing and tourism. For those particular aspects, we also need to look at the river as it enters the ocean with the silt that builds up, and how much we need to invest in order to keep the river functioning for tourism, leisure activities, fishing, and for it to be a working river to transport goods. Those kinds of investments require a federal government with a vision, one that is willing to consult with municipalities, the business communities, and the residents around that area, and then put in resources to look after the infrastructure that we need so badly in the country.

We are not the only ones saying that. We hear that from all kinds of people, whether they are environmentalists, the business community, or citizens who live around that area.

We are blessed in Canada with such amazing waterways, whether it is B.C., Ontario, or Quebec, coast to coast to coast. In many ways we are reliant on our waterways as a way of communication and keeping linkages for some of our communities. That has become very important.

The NDP absolutely supports responsible investment in infrastructure, and I stress that. Investment in infrastructure should not be just so that certain ministers can go to their ridings and make grandiose announcements. Serious investment in infrastructure should look at Canada as a whole, seeing where the gaps are, and then investing in a major way. Whether in Montreal, Vancouver, or in Toronto, it should not matter. We need to see that kind of investment.

If we are investing in infrastructure, we must also balance economic, environmental, social, and legal concerns because some of our waterways are shared. We have international jurisdiction over some of those. However, the number one thing for us right now is that we need investment. Investment in infrastructure would boost the economy, create jobs, and is good for every Canadian across this country.

[Employment, October 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, if I remember rightly, it was the minister who called a moratorium when McDonald's was exposed. That is what happened.

The seafood processors are not alone in complaining about the minister's bad data, and we are talking about bad data. Siemens is asking the government to officially retract the list of employers it released because it miscalculated the number of foreign workers employed by Siemens by over 2,000.

How can Canadians trust the Conservatives when all of their decisions are based on such bad numbers? Simply promising to count better in the future is not enough. Will the minister finally call an independent review?

[Employment, October 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it appears the minister's ability to collect bad data is boundless.

First it was labour market statistics off Kijiji. Then it was a list of employers that did not correspond to reality. Now the P.E.I. seafood processors are complaining about the minister's numbers. The minister claims 180 foreign workers were processing seafood in January, a month when seafood processing plants are not even open.

This confirms we need an independent review. When will the minister finally call one?

[Seaforth Highlanders Army Cadets, October 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am thrilled to rise today to recognize some outstanding young men and women from my riding.

The 1867 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps Seaforth Highlanders are here in Ottawa this week and on Parliament Hill all day today. There are 28 cadets and four chaperones from Newton-North Delta here in the gallery, and I want to take this opportunity to tell them that they are the reason I love my job. I appreciate their ideas, civic engagement, and energy. I am in absolute awe of this particular group and its commitment to loyalty, professionalism, mutual respect, and integrity as guiding principles.

These teenagers already stand out as community leaders. It is a privilege for me to represent them here in Parliament. I wish I could name them all, but due to time constraints, it is not possible. Therefore, I will profusely thank their group leader, Michael Marek, for his tireless efforts and advocacy on their behalf in arranging this visit. I am completely inspired by all of them.

[Employment, September 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we need an independent review. Clearly the government cannot get the job done.

The minister keeps blaming the companies for providing false information, but it was his department that was supposed to be doing the verifying. Now he says that all information will be checked for accuracy, but only one in four employers will be inspected for compliance, and not all inspections will include a site visit.

How does the minister call it due diligence, when inspections are limited to shuffling paperwork?

[Social Development, September 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his justification and a kind of a cover-up for what is happening to those who are waiting for hearings about their social security, their pensions, and EI.

First let me say that a lot of these people are now being told they are just going to get an administrative review, and for the first time, our government does not even have the numbers for those it rejects out of the appeal process.

What we are really talking about here are the most vulnerable in our society. Many of these people have no other income source. Others have very little. They usually have run out. I have dealt with constituents who have come into that office because they have used up their own resources, yet they still do not have a date for their review.

Let us have a system that looks after the vulnerable. They have paid for the system; let us not make them suffer.

[Social Development, September 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, on every paycheque, Canadians contribute to safety nets that are supposed to help them make ends meet when they need it most, like employment insurance and CPP. Canadians expect that these services will be there for them should they run into hard times, but under the Conservative government, more Canadians are seeing their claims denied, and too many are waiting too long to have their appeals heard.

The Social Security Tribunal which was created by the Conservative government to hear appeals is a complete mess. Canadians are waiting a year or more to appeal decisions on employment insurance, old age security and Canada pension plan claims. Unlike the old system, which was not problem free, by the way, there is no guarantee of a fair hearing in a reasonable amount of time, and recently we learned that the Social Security Tribunal does not intend to eliminate the backlog of cases until 2017 at the earliest.

Seniors, Canadians living with a disability and those who are out of work cannot afford to live for months and years without any income. Why is the government leaving vulnerable Canadians to pay the price for its incompetence?

The government even set out with a specific goal of reducing the number of hearings by 25%. The new tribunal has more than delivered on that goal.

I would like the minister to tell us why the Conservative government refuses to fully staff the tribunal or to develop service standards for Canadians. I would like him to tell us why he is not collecting or releasing statistics.

I would also like to take this opportunity to mention that I have received several letters from people who have been so completely discouraged by the bureaucratic nightmare the government has created that they have actually given up on their cases and they are living in poverty. Sometimes I wonder if that is not part of the strategy: to make a system so incredibly discouraging that people actually give up on their claims.

On September 18, I introduced a motion that would see this House agree that the government should hear the entire backlog of cases in no longer than 365 days, hire more staff so that appeals do not continue to backlog, track wait times for appeals, and resume tracking the success and failure rates of all appeals.

In addition to my motion, I also have a motion on notice before HUMA asking that the committee study this badly broken program so that ailing and out-of-work Canadians do not continue to wait to have their cases heard.

I hope that the cases are heard as quickly as possible so that Canadians are not left suffering. We cannot have unemployed Canadians denied employment insurance, Canada pension plan or old age security benefits.

Someone who has been on the inside, someone who has seen first-hand how badly broken this current system really is and how much that is hurting people, that former member also emphasized that under the current system she felt rushed, and that there was a possibility to feel resentful under the workload expectations caused by understaffing. She talked about fairness to the client and fairness of the process in past tense, suggesting instead that the current process is only about production and getting cases out of the way.

We need to have a serious look at this tribunal and we need to see it fixed.

[Employment, September 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the farce that the government has made of the temporary foreign worker program continues.

Today we learned that the government granted labour market opinions and work visas for a company that did not even exist. As a result a worker from Iran is out $25,000 to a shady immigration consultant, and he still has no job.

Is this what the minister considers due diligence? How are the minister's paperwork-only inspections going to catch this kind of violation the next time?

[Employment, September 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the minister mismanaged the temporary foreign worker program for six years. Surely if he thought it was growing out of control, as he mentioned, he had plenty of opportunity to take action. Instead, the Conservatives relaxed the rules and made it easier to bring in foreign workers. Now the minister wants us all to believe that this was the fault of the provinces. Why will the minister not take responsibility for the mess he has made and finally fix the program?

[Employment, September 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Employment and Social Development seemed to be a tad confused yesterday. Instead of accepting responsibility for his own mismanagement of the temporary foreign worker program, the minister is out there blaming the provinces for letting the program get out of hand. He takes no responsibility for his own mistakes.

Where is the minister's accountability for the way he completely bungled the temporary foreign worker program?